Local Government Committee, 19 Sep 2000

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 19, 2000

Official Report 88KB pdf

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Covenant

The first item on the agenda is the covenant. Members will recall that the draft document was produced by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which also gave evidence on that document at an earlier meeting. On 6 June, the committee agreed to seek clarification on a number of issues from the Parliament's director of clerking and reporting and from the head of the legal office. That happened before the recess and comments have been received from the legal office. The problem is not to do with the principle of the covenant but the detail of the document, which needs further work.

The note has not been circulated as it is an internal document and is not for public consumption. I would think that members will welcome the note from the legal office. We have copies of it if members wish to see it. It is quite detailed, but it might be worth reading it.

The procedure is as follows. The document, as redrafted by COSLA, will be submitted to the Parliament for consideration by the legal office. On approval, it would be submitted to the Parliament's subject committees and to the Procedures Committee for consideration. Any comments received from the relevant committees would then be incorporated into the final draft document. That document would then be resubmitted to COSLA and to the legal office for final consideration. After that, it would come back to this committee for final approval. It is proposed that the document would then become subject matter for a Local Government Committee debate in the chamber. There would be an appropriately worded motion in my name calling on the Parliament to adopt the proposals of the covenant and joint standing conference, which would be annexed to the motion.

I ask members to approve that course of action and I would like to hear any comments that members may have. We also have copies of comments by Margaret Macdonald from the legal office. It is a back-and-forth procedure: the principle is established and agreed, but we need to get the legal details sorted out.

Such a covenant will work if those involved in it want it to work. It is about an aspiration to work together in a spirit of mutual respect, rather than the sort of document for which one could hold people to account in a court of law. Although it is important that we do not make agreements that we are not allowed to make, we must emphasise that it is a document about working together. I would be unhappy if we were to get bogged down in a legal debate about fine points that are not really relevant, because the covenant is about the Parliament's and the Executive's commitment to respect local government and work together with it.

I agree, but the legal people obviously have to examine the document. We must wait to see whether they recommend any changes, but the principle should be maintained. Are members agreed?

Members indicated agreement.